Western Siren Solutions

Western Siren Solutions, occasionally referred to as simply Western, WSS, or W.S.S. for short, is a warning siren manufacturer based out of Ironwood, Michigan. They made several lines of Outdoor Warning Sirens, most of which were carried over from predecessor Western Alarm Corporation. The corporation also makes Vehicular Sirens, smaller industrial sirens, and siren signal timers.

Two years after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, a metal shortage had caused Western Alarm to split off nearly most of their siren business into a new division called Western Siren Solutions to continue production of their simple design siren models in an attempt to supplement towns during the war that lacked sirens. Immediately after the formation of Western Siren Solutions, approximately 300 vertical sirens and 34 horizontal ones were installed in Pinewood, California; Tangerine, California; and Temple, Ohio as part of the civil defense program the two cities held.

In the mid 60s, Western Siren Solutions moved their headquarters to New York, where they installed a large amount of sirens in Manhattan and Rochester. At least two of these sirens still exist to this day, both in private possession. With their headquarters in Rochester, Western later planned to move into the World Trade Center, but subsequently was unable to survive the 9/11 terror attacks, stating its demise was due to them moving out of their Rochester HQ and temporary halt of siren production. It also accounted for demolition of a building in the World Trade Center complex the company planned to move into; In 2000, the company originally was going to move into floors 3-5 of Six World Trade Center which was unoccupied months before the attacks.

Due to 9/11, Western Siren Solutions closed it's Rochester, New York foundry under Chapter 11 proceedings two months after the attacks on November 11, 2001 and later moved their headquarters from Rochester to New Jersey; Western leased the foundry and its Rochester headquarters on November 22, 2001, the 38th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. It was also claimed it initially blamed its demise on a local demolition company and former rival American Signal. Despite the bankruptcy, the company managed to "pull itself together".

Over the decade, the prominent advancements the company made in its siren's designs included battery operation, high powered Voice/Sirens and indoor alerting systems. Electro-mechanical sirens were still manufactured, but under new names, such as the Whirlwind series, which is currently sold under WesternGrinnell. As of 2001, Western Siren Solutions is still in operation and supplies many towns and cities in the U.S. with outdoor warning sirens, most of which are now used to warn the public of threats such as tsunamis, severe weather, chemical spills and civil emergencies.